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In Aldus Huxley's "Brave New World," he makes a pretty outstanding prediction of what our world is coming to. In Huxley's interview with Mike Wallace, it is pointed out that Soviet Russia has already proven his predictions true, but the main question stands, is the free world headed down that same path? This interview took place over fifty-six years ago which means that we today hold the answer to this question. Are we living in a "Brave New World?"

In his interview, Huxley talks about drugs that can profoundly change our mental state, over-population, over-organization, and technical advances with the ability to catch us by surprise. In today's society, drugs are being used in unspeakable ways to control others and our over-population is destroying the freedom of third world countries by consuming more resources than we need and leaving nothing for the poor and week. Huxley makes the comment, "Once something works, you can be sure that it will improve." What he means by this is that technical advances may catch us by surprise by doing things that we never meant or expected. Television has become a huge influence on people in ways that only Huxley was able to predict. When he states that we could become over-organized he makes another reference to technology. As technology advances, there are more ways of mass communication that have the possibility to limit individuality. All of these things that Huxley speaks of are evident in the world today.

Huxley's ability to predict the future created doubt among people of his time, but he has left the people of today wondering how he came to such accurate conclusions. Even though our world today isn't exactly as the world Huxley described, there are some congruities in his predictions and signs that we are advancing toward the true "Brave New World" that Huxley wrote about.

Though I don't believe we are living in the Brave New World currently, I think we are on the path to doing so. Just as Huxley stated that TV has brainwashed children in his time, things like the media and the internet are brainwashing people today. The media influences things in our lives such as how we view ourselves and others, what we wear, and even how we vote. Drugs are another thing taking over our lives. Just as the people of Brave New World had their soma, we have drugs today that change the way we act. Anti-depressants, for example, are dished out to suppress bad tempers and certain emotions. In a way, these drugs can take away a person's freedom, something that Huxley stated is necessary for a productive society. In conclusion, I wholeheartedly agree when Huxley states we should start thinking about all this now so we are not taken by surprise in the future and find ourselves living in the Brave New World.

No, we are not living in the Brave New World. I believe that we are still in the position that Huxley saw us at decades before. Huxley gives many examples of the "enemies" of freedom, and the power that they have to destroy it. There was the Catholic Church pushing for the ban of contraceptives, third world countries being pushed into the arms of Communism, the untrustworthy people whispering things into the ears of the highest authority figures, and we do have similarities such as drugs but not everyone uses them like the people of World State. Yes, these were problems that could destroy freedom and what it stood for. But has it truly happened? Our freedom hasn't been taken away, even if the tools that can take it away are arm's length away. Sure, communication devices and propaganda can be a little threatening to our own freedoms, but they have not made a move to destroy expression.We are in the same position as we were during Huxley's time. The Brave New World could be on the horizon, but the tools aren't being used to a dangerous extent.

I do not see our society in a Brave New World. From Huxley's comments above I see our society heading in that direction. One thing that Huxley pointed out was that you can't let not one person or group of people have to much power. In Brave New World he does just the opposite because he separates the people into groups and gives some like the Director a lot of power. Technology has advanced since Huxley's time and that is a step into a Brave New World because the technology can be used to do evil things.

Aldous Huxley described something we COULD become. While we have made steps towards the Brave New World styled life, however, I cannot say we have gotten to the point of being able to compare ourselves to the World State. In respects to the overpopulation commentary, we are getting close to an overpopulated society. Contraceptives are being more urged however, as well as technological advances aiding societies burdened population. These technologies can be used for control and propaganda, but at this point in time I do not believed it is being used in an intrusive propaganda like manner.

A couple of points that Huxley made do relate to our current life. For example, he mentioned evolving technology, which new forms of technology are created or improved upon very often. He also mentioned propaganda, similar to Hitler. While our current propaganda might not be similar to Hitler, we still continue to use it when it comes to elections, or recruiting people to join branches of the military. One other thing he mentioned was drug usage, and how drugs will take over our minds. Drug usage is very common now in the day and age. People do drugs to try and make themselves feel better (similar to soma in Brave New World) and it also tends to affect people's descisions. So while we might not be living in the complete Brave New World Huxley created, he did make a couple of accurate predictions of what the future would hold.

Although Huxley makes valid points as to how we can turn into his brave new world, it has been over 60 years and we still haven't completely conformed to his idea of the future world. The possibility of it happening is still very real because the things he alluded to in his interview were very eye opening and something to be weary about. One subject he talked about was overpopulation. It has gotten worse since the interview and this is a good thing to think about the future because the more populated the world gets the more controlling governments are willing to get because they fear that they are not satisfying their needs and want to rebel. He stated this himself when he said that overpopulation tends to make it easier for the government to control people. He also talked about over organization, which means that the more a person is wanting to live based on a schedule means that they are more vulnerable to become part of his brave new world. An example of this is in Brave New World where all the gametes are programed to do specific things which in turn relates to us because we may use our phones to guide us through our daily routine and eventually be at the mercy of someone and we get told what to do. A third subject talked about was propaganda and how he explained how it pushes for less freedom. At current times though, this is not the case because we are not in fear of a bigger threat like they were with the USSR at that time. Although we cannot rule out a future dictator who takes over a country and then we are forced to see their propaganda movement because they are trying to establish a totalitarian system. Although our world hasn't yet become the world that Aldous Huxley is trying to warn about, there is still a possibility it can happen, but as long as we understand what he is saying it can be avoided.

I do not believe we are living in the Brave New World Huxley predicted, but I do see elements of the world he envisioned. There are two forces in the current world, one which pushes towards individuality while the other pushes conformity. Huxley talks about how technology, media, and ads are used to “brain wash” people and this is still a true today. One such example would be how children are raised on the idea of how they should look, how they should behave, what constitutes them as “cool” or strange, and many more things. So in a sense we still are changing the way people think from a young age so when they grow older they can pass on those same ideas. This is what Huxley had discussed and while I do not think it is as extreme as the World State; our world does subtly influence our thoughts and perceptions. I also believe Huxley was correct in stating that politics have become more of a game than truly meaningful. We’ve seen politicians switch their views in the blink of an eye just so they can become re-elected. There have been voters who only vote for someone because they’re young or simply because they are a member of the same party who seem to be advocating the same beliefs as you. But how can we truly be sure when we all know most politicians only focus on what will gain them votes? However, I do not think our leaders aim to destroy democracy at all. They would never get re-elected that way. I think there is a balance of giving the people enough freedoms to keep a majority of the people satisfied and happy, and our leaders are then given the power without seeming like dictators. This is somewhat similar to how the World State runs; the people are happy and see no threats to their happiness so they don’t even seem to realize who has the power. There is one major difference between the world Huxley predicted that will ensure we will never become the World State, and that is the fact that the “lower classes” of our society would never accept such a life. People in our world have proven they cannot be conditioned to believe they are worth less than someone simply because they are considered upper class. I think the will of the people is much stronger than that. History has shown us this, and I don’t expect people will never stop fighting for a better life. So for that reason most importantly, I don’t believe we are living in a Brave New World.

Huxley's "Brave New World" is not yet a reality, but that doesn't mean it won't become one some day. Huxley does point out things that are true about the society we live in today. He mentions quickly advancing technology and urges caution. He speaks about overpopulation and the popularity of television. Those things are true about today. We have advanced technology that came about rather quickly in comparison with the rest of history. We definitely have an issue with overpopulation and rely increasingly on television. A large portion of our population uses drugs similar to Huxley's Soma. Huxley had these things right, but just because those things are true, it doesn't mean our society will mimic the World State. We are dealing with technological advances, drugs, and overpopulation in different ways than how they were dealt with in "Brave New World". We aren't anywhere close to having a world dictator and in many ways, individualism is still valued in our society. I think that it is possible that overtime society will acquire some Brave New World-ish features, but it will not be to the extent that Huxley portrayed.

Before I watched this interview, I will admit that I was not a giant fan of Brave New World. I thought that it was a stretch to say that we would ever such a lifeless society the world state holds but after watching this interview... I think Huxley is a genius and I totally value this book much more now...We live comfortably in the US. Even if we hit hard times, we live so much better than anyone off the reservation or country for this matter. Huxley points out that the 3rd world countries live with dramatically less resources and comfort than we do and with world population increasing, we will run out of resources and comfort sooner than later. This lack of distribution of wealth is a major issue which the government looks to take on. But Huxley argues that more government will lead us to a Brave New World. This isn't so far fetched. If we take a look at our own government right now, we are running into problems because we have so many regulations and laws that rule our country. We work in protocol, we don't work use our common sense or compassion anymore. Look at the education system, we are set to pass standardized tests rather than actually learn something. Even now there are harsher punishments for teens making mistakes. If someone were to get pulled over after a night of partying, their life would be ruined with a DUI and a record, possible time and parol but a generation before, police had a sense of compassion. Rules are getting stricter, punishments are getting harsher, and people are losing their sense of compassion. We aren't as bad as Brave New World obviously but I can see the similarities starting to unfold as Huxley predicted.

Well, after nearly finishing Blogspot decided to delete my first and second comment so here is to a less exuberant comment and round three. After only a few minutes of watching the interview with Aldous Huxley, it is apparent that he was a well-read and eloquent man. But in truth I do not believe that we are living in a Brave New World, but rather we are moving towards one. Huxley had several excellent points, but his parallels between topics was at times, difficult to follow. So in order to best get my ideas across I want to share some of my notes and then elaborate on a few points. (also because blogspot deleted my first one)Impersonal forces and technology limit freedom:-Overpopulation: creates caste systems, falling standard of living, therefore governments must take over more and more which leads to totalitarian regimes. Such as the communist party. -This idea definitely has traction. Although he follows a slippery slope type pattern Huxley does have a great idea that he is able to back up. And for today’s world this idea could easily be supported. North Korea would be the most poignant example. North Korea has a low standard of living and the government completely controls every level of and all standards of living within the communist state. -Propaganda: Using all modern devices (radio, tv, etc…) to express a political or personal agenda. -If we were to only judge the existence of a World State on this then the United States and most of the world would be considered in a world state. Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Stumbleupon and the hundreds of other social media outlets can easily and are often used to express political or personal agendas and become propaganda tools. What we need to be wary of is how often we choose to turn a blind eye to checking facts.

We are not exactly living in the envisioned world that Huxley thought we would be. Although, he has claimed a few points in the interview that may be true in the twenty first century. In the Brave New World, a drug that was commonly consumed, the soma relates to our society in the way many young adults are well informed and choose to use the drug. The society we live in is surrounded by drugs, at school we hear about students possessing it, which Huxley is right about. Another point he makes is the advancement in technology. Technology has by far improved from Huxley's time, which he is right about. He believes that as technology improves, the more children's mind will be corrupt because they are consumed by it. If you ask around campus, junior high and high school, many will say that they can't live without their phone, tv, laptop. It's what our society has become, dependent on technology. Huxley couldn't have known about the advancements, but in the interview he believes that this has a negative effect on people. I do believe we are dependent on technology, but it has both a good and bad effect on this society. Huxley was incorrect about few things, but doesn't mean he was wrong.

I see the "Brave New World" prediction, getting here and its pretty close. Brainwashing is what Aldous Huxley stated,he did point out power and technology, people get pretty greedy. Today we do have dictatorships in parts of the world who takes control of everyone and make the people into epsilons and have beta and delta soldiers to keep everything okay for the alphas at the top of the chain who are taking care of everything, they are "working hard". And as for brainwashing, technology makes us forget about what happens in real life to most of the youth, they instead of start paying attention to politics and world problems they are going to want to fix, they are going to find themselves asking their parents about that new game that came out and how badly they want it. Alduos Huxley also talked about soma, cannabis has been legalized (this is a soft hit). Still drugs in this world people tend to be against all their beliefs for some odd reason, they start studying their environment and find out something is wrong. These people feel like John the Savage.

Though Aldus Huxley's Brave New World may be similar to our modern world, they are still two different worlds. It has been about sixty years since the book has been written, and though there are similarities, our generation still has many miles to travel before conforming to that extent. It is very possible that Huxley might have predicted the future, slowly but surely we are changing everyday. Drugs are marketed and easily accessible, social status and image is exploited and everybody follows a higher power. As Americans we have a choice to walk the path of the Brave New World or to create a new one. Huxleys predictions become more and more relevant each year. One thing that really stood up to be about Brave New World was the over exploited sex. Sex sells, and everyone's buying it. Birth Control pills have become easily accessible, kids are having sex at younger ages, money is everything, etc. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised to continue down that path. We're one step away from falling into a ditch with no way out.

Huxley had a really interesting and even scary vision for the future of our world in his book Brave New World. However, I don't believe our society has come to such a point or ever really will come to such a point as being considered of "Brave New World" status creepy. In this interview he made good points about the speed of technology and how it changes us, how drugs may be recreational with effects that may be minimal, and even drew some parallels between his story and real world events. I just truly believed he underestimated how we would evolve as a people. We don't have to let technology and what we can do with it rule us, people (students, teachers, parents, doctors, politicians) have created a way to use it as a tool for education, entertainment and easy access (sometimes completely useless) information. Technology didn't advance without us and it didn't make a window to some sort of tyrannical nightmarish government. The power of technology brought power to the people and keeps raising the ceiling on what we as a whole or as individuals can accomplish. Huxley really couldn't have predicted the way in which people would take advantage of these opportunities. In a sense we are like the BNW in that we are constantly seeking improvement and ways to eliminate problems, however, as of now I'd like to believe that our minds are still very much our own.

Are we living in the brave new world today? I would have to say yes and no. To my own opinion I believe we are not, but perhaps to others in society they experience the elements leading up to brave new world than a simple teenage girl who is on the verge of entering the "real world."Over population is present in today, where it is only a matter of time where resources can barely keep up with our people, thus creating different living standards for some individuals, which can create different levels of people, modern day castes. Another idea is the use of technology can be used for propaganda and "brain washing" i.e. Hitler. Potential misuse of technology back then vs. Now is extremely different, where as the it was a way to stay linked, and he said it serves as a distraction, and even know it does that and so much more, the potential of technology has grown and its capacity is still expanding. It has the ability to still deliver propaganda more easily. The drug use in Brave new world can be pretty much seen in society today. Drug use can be used as manipulation over others as Melissa says, I completely agree. Which the over population is making our freedom deteriorate.We haven't arrived at completely to the Brave new world state from my perspective, but I wouldn't say we're no in the position to move towards it. Technology and drugs greatly influence how people act. Where individuals especially in this community lay down their freedom for their own happy state, that could be called their personal fix or "soma."

I do not believe that we are a part of the Brave New World at this current moment, but we could be evolving into it. Social media and technology are extremely influential aspects of our society. Each of us is constantly using technology such as our cell phones or televisions, so Huxley is correct in the idea that these influences can affect our emotions, actions, and morals. In addition to the media, drugs could be another influence. Huxley mentioned the concept of drugs in his interview, which was that drugs can change our choices. Drugs could become a gateway in which others use to control an individual’s freedom or ideals. This could lead to the world described in Brave New World, so personally I agree with Huxley about preparing for the future ahead of us instead of being blindsided.

I actually think that we are living in a Brave New World- just not in the exact same way as Aldous Huxley had predicted. In the world today, the "free" countries, like the US, do seem to be filled with many cultural paradoxes. We live in a world where we highlight the group and the individual but not at the same time, strive for power and rebuke those who have too much power, and praise concise organization and mock those who live either a life that is too careless or too meticulous. We rely on heavily on technology and media today. We are heavily overpopulated in different areas around the world. With all of these factors put into our lives today, I believe that we are living in a Brave New World. But as the article "a" suggests, I do not believe we are living in the exact Brave New World that Huxley had predicted.

In my opinion we are living in a brave new world today. We may not have the same ideas and thought processes going on but things are changing, and with technology things will never be the same. The people who do not 'conform' in today's society would be the older generation, some refuse to learn how to operate technology, and they see it as a major problem. We may not have any of the same 'crazy' things Huxley describes in the novel, but we indeed are living in a brave new world where you either get on the bandwagon of technology or you will be really out of society today!

I don't understand how we will ever be this society. Brave New World was interesting and all, but it's just not humanly possible for any of this to happen. We can't just drop all emotional reasoning and mature at a younger age than we do now. We can't just not feel jealousy, or euphoria, or sadness, or love.

Huxley's interview made me realize how much thought he actually put into his novel. How carefully he placed each symbol delicately through each chapter. I think he found people to be a lot more emotionless than we really would be in that world's structure. It's impossible to feel nothing, and if it was, nothing would be an emotion. Free thinking is something we can't help but do, and he can tamper with the idea that we can't all he wants, but really, there will always be one Henry in a sea of Directors that halts the process.

To be honest, I am still quite unsure if we are truly in the Brave New World, but we sure do have some aspects of the Brave New World in our world today. We can make an argument that there is a question of balance. The world today is leaning on technology and its effects and uses which is a huge aspect in the Brave New World. Huxley builds up technology with much reputation and use that the citizens of the Brave New World rely on it constantly. Also, they rely on the drug, soma, to create that equilibrium in their life so they would not have to deal with the madness. It is the same as today where many people rely on drugs to get "high" or to become oblivious to their surroundings because those surroundings irritate them in some way. In the world today, so many people are affected by drugs that tend to make them not see reality which is just like in the Brave New World where soma covers up the toils of reality.Another idea could be that everyone deserves freedom which is something the citizens in the Brave New World did not have. We have many freedoms that the characters did not. We have free will and free choice. They don't. This creates my puzzling argument. Are we truly in a Brave New World or are we not? Some say that we are, and some say that we are not. But, I do have a feeling we are getting very close to it.

After watching the interview, I appreciate more of what Aldous Huxley went through to publish the book. His views seem very radical for the time period that he wrote Brave New World; I sensed some skepticism in Mike Wallace's tone of voice when Huxley was making some of his predictions about the technology in our future. He was right; how we use technology today is important. Kids are growing up surrounded by video games, television, and social media sites to keep them inside and less likely to go out into nature. In Brave New World, the citizens preferred not to explore the world beyond the city, beyond their "feelies" and clubs with synthetic music. Our music is becoming more and more electronic and less instrumental. While I do think that this reflects some of the music that Aldous Huxley created in Brave New World, the music in the book is more instrumental than what some songs today are like. Then again, auto-tune and dubstep didn't exist yet in Aldous Huxley's time. I don't believe that our society is headed towards the repressive society in Brave New World. However, I do believe that some characteristics of the future society predicted by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World are becoming more prevalent in our society. In Brave New World, most of the characters are very promiscuous, and even young children are encouraged to engage in lewd behavior. Though it may not seem like it, doesn't some of our music today express this characteristic in a different way? What would happen if an explicit rap song from today starting playing during a dance in the 1950s? The 1960s? Lastly, in Brave New World, everyone is young and healthy, and Lenina freaks out when she sees an old person on the Reservation. Most people want to continue looking young, and women sometimes spend hundreds of dollars every year on treatments for their skin or supplements to their diet in the hopes that they can feel and look young for as long as they want. Though Aldous Huxley didn't know it when he wrote Brave New World, there are bits of truth in his predictions about society in the future that are reflected in some parts of society today.

I feel like now that I have heard from Huxley the novel does not seem to extreme. What I mean by this is that he is “Normal!” He thinks the same way many people think about our world. It is Overpopulated, Over-organized, advanced with technology, full of propaganda, and drugs. At first I though Huxley was exaggerating, in it is arguable, but in a way we do not see it as an exaggeration because we are a part of it, it is all we know. If we take a step back to think about what Huxley has suggested about our world and where it is heading there is an astonishing amount of truth in it.

The 1997 AP Essay I wrote on BNW was focused on how a character’s actions alone were evil or immoral and why the character drew sympathy from the reader. I would say that Huxley did an excellent job because by putting certain attributes of our world today into the world state we (the readers) are able to identify with John the savage. I felt like John the savage was a representation of us right now and the world state “people” were a representation of what we are heading to as a society.

I also have notes on the video. Feel free to check them out on my blog: http://emarquezrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/

After watching Huxley talk and reading his book, I can say with certainty that I believe he was absolutely paranoid. He was a man that had some interesting views for his time, but ultimately I believe those views do not reflect our society today. Our use of technology mirrors that in Brave New World in various ways. Science and technology are pushing the boundaries of what previously was with things such as genetic engineering, nuclear weaponry and stem cell research. Yet I don't believe that our use in those fields will lead to a repressive government such as The World State. We have great thinkers and we have morals. There are people who are keeping science and technology confined to boundaries of morality and humanity. I don't see how one government could strip our humanity, and people would just let it happen. Thinking about this sort of reminds me of the world in James McTeigue's V for Vendetta, where an oppressive government uses technology and science to manipulate and control a society. They tried to strip many of the prisoners in their experimentation camps of their humanity, but the people fought back..they did not allow themselves to be turned into anything less than humans.

There is one interesting thing I saw between Huxley's Brave New World and our modern society...We also have to keep in mind that only parts of our modern world are dominated by science and technology, such as first world nations like the United States and China. Many African and South American societies still live as they were living before science and technology formed big parts of first world life. Technology and science are only available in some parts of the world, much like in Huxley's Brave New World. London (which is where most of the plot takes place) is a hub of technology and science, in contrast to the various reservations where "savages" live without the illumination of science and technology. We sort of seclude theses areas of the world (much like they did in BNW). As we move forward, we are leaving them behind and forgetting about them. We are consuming all the planets resources in our relentless pursuit of more, leaving them with the scraps of our ambition. In that sense, yeah, we are living in a Brave New World.

In an essay-let (essayito?) of 1-3 paragraphs, please comment to this post and cite 3-5 ideas from the talk to support your validation or refutation of the following claim:

The creator, thinker, physic who created "Brave New World' and predicted numerous problems and advancements in the future (as in today). At first I connected with the discussion of how his creation of soma and future drugs could cause individuals to be under control and a illusion of the real world, similar to bath salts and gateway drugs in which destroy numerous individuals future lives. I loved all of his predictions for the future because it shows how innovated and imaginative Huxley was even with all these gruesome ideas of castes, drugs, overpopulation, death, etc. We aren't exactly living in the "Brave New World" but are in a similar one that has adapted to society's wants and dislikes. How does one continent have lucious amount of fame, food, architercute while another one still is in the stone ages? Well the prediction of over-population by Huxley stated that it would happen eventually so that is a contributing factor of why most of Africa is in a poverty state of being. America is using so much resources that many other countries don't have any and that's why millions of people die from hunger and sickness (so many medicine that aren't distributed to everyone). Money is the destroying factor in our society right now because many will kill for money, such as not delivering money to African countries because not having enough money to pay for it. Now I think of it, many of us are selfish and are being brain washed to be the richest because that's what society sees as the ultimate dream, even if we have to hurt others.

I don't think we will ever be in this type of society Huxley talks about but we have made steps toward it. It is no possible for us to completely forget feelings and emotions but our world has been become more controlled over the past years. More and more regulations are being implemented by the government, restricting us from what we can and cannot do. The more rules that are placed in our society the more the people break them. This country was built upon the idea of freedom and slowly one law after another, the government is taking that away from us. In Brave New World, the world state is in full government control and they barely have any freedom. Thankfully, we still have some but we are increasingly taking steps toward that.

Another reason we are similar to the world state Huxley describes in Brave New World is the fact that even if our country hits a hard time it doesn't affect us greatly. Compared to 3rd world countries we float through life so easily and yet we still complain. In the novel, we see some of the characters complain but eventually the hypnosis will kick in and they return to their happy state. We are fortunate enough that our government didn't do that to us, and won't ever be able too.

Living in the world today is like living in a parallel to what Huxley would consider a Brave New World. Although what is mentioned and glorified in his book is not what we see today (mass reproduction, ten world controllers, children orgies, etc), many practices can be drawn in comparison to what is illustrated.

For example the practice of using technology to create a repetition to brainwash people, hypnopaedia, is similar to todays use of the media. The media is what flourishes in every place we go and is very unavoidable. Seeing the media every day implants ideas and thoughts into peoples minds without the actual interface of learning about those facts and heavily thinking upon them. We see it on the news, gossip magazines, the internet, social media, literally everywhere. Another parallel is the use of these devices which take away our thinking freedom. In Brave New World shock treatments are used to prevent children from enjoying flora and knowledge. Huxley stated in the interview that these technological devices prevent us from our freedom and actually gears to go away from our freedom. Lastly,the idea of mass production in his book is very similar to today's over population in countries. Did you know if you lined up every person in China, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction in the country?

Huxley did predict the future of what we would become, but are we living it? In my opinion, I think we are, or close to it, but not in his context. Not in the context to where we will be living on reservoirs and world states, soma-filled days (but I mean alcohol and such is close right?), and children living up to their promiscuity, but in a way where it's already happening and we just don't know it.